The initial purpose for building the canal was to shorten the distance ships had to travel between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It enabled shippers to cheaply transport different types of goods in a shorter period of time. ... But after the canal was complete, the ship only traveled for 4,000 miles.
President Theodore Roosevelt oversaw the realization of a long-term United States goal—a trans-isthmian canal. Throughout the 1800s, American and British leaders and businessmen wanted to ship goods quickly and cheaply between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.
The Virginia delegates proposed a strong national government that could make and enforce laws and collect taxes. The plan would establish a federal system of government under which the people would be governed by both the state and national governments
